


Show Me Where My Armour Ends

by CupidStrikes



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts (nearly), Hurt/Comfort, Kinkmeme, M/M, Spoilers, so much angst then so much fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-09-30 14:59:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10165538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CupidStrikes/pseuds/CupidStrikes
Summary: Or, 'Five times Ravus needed comfort, and one time Prompto did'.





	1. 1: Show me where my skin begins

**Author's Note:**

> For the Kinkmeme prompt:
> 
> "Nothing calms Ravus faster or more than Prompto in his arms."
> 
> SPOILERS ABOUND. 
> 
> This takes place in a semi-AU where everyone lives and no one dies (pretty much) so there is no Noctis getting sucked into the Crystal for ten years and then having to die, etc, etc. Luna and Regis are still very much alive. I won't really go into detail unless necessary but just a heads up.
> 
> All chapter titles from 'Pluto' by Sleeping At Last (whom are amazing)

1\. Show me where my skin begins.

 

The first time Prompto sees Ravus cry is the same time that they first meet.

 

It's not the most ideal meeting; Prompto is bound up to some machine inside Zegnatus Keep. He's sore, and tired, and frightened, and really he wants nothing more than to hang there in oblivion until Noctis comes for him (because he is coming, he knows it, and he can't give up on him), and really he could have lived without seeing anyone see him like this, but the door of course scrapes open on its rusting hinges what Prompto thinks must be a few hours after Ardyn has left, and it's not the strange and creepy man this time (and for this Prompto thanks every Astral and vaguely god-like being he knows of, and makes a few more up for good measure), but a silver-haired man dressed in white and black.

 

Prompto recognises him, just about, from a photo Noctis had shown him once in his otherwise secret notebook, and that moment, so long before now, when the man had challenged Noctis before being interrupted. He lacks the look of fury he had had that day, his posture softer and his face neutral save for the crease between his eyebrows. He stands on the threshold for long enough that Prompto feels goosebumps break out over his skin like a rash.

 

“Ravus.”

 

He forces his mouth around the word, watching it startle his visitor from his silent watch at the door. Prompto doesn't know why he has come here, but he works for the Empire and it's enough to reignite the trembling in his limbs even as he fights to keep still. Ravus's boots clink on the hard floor and it's loud against Prompto's ears as he watches Ravus come closer. His stomach twists with anxiety, and he shifts as much as he can in the chains, maintaining the facade of resilience just a little longer -

 

“Ardyn has done this.”

 

It's not a question. Ravus lifts his right arm up and Prompto flinches back, knocks his head on the metal framework behind him and closes his eyes as a hiss of pain escapes him. He doesn't know what further torment awaits him, but Prompto thinks hard of Noctis, and of Gladiolus and Ignis, and all the stupid and fun times they've had and that they're on their way for sure.

 

The soft touch against his skin comes as a surprise, and Prompto starts to jerk away but Ravus speaks and he aborts the motion as his frayed nerves are startled again into stillness.

 

“I am not here to hurt you.”

 

Prompto looks at him fully then, feeling the way Ravus's fingers tremble just slightly where they rest against his collarbone, and there's no way he's cold in that heavy coat. He is silent as Ravus takes a final step closer and touches a spot on his hairline that hurts, and when he brings his hand away his fingers are wet with Prompto's blood. Is he bleeding that much? He hadn't noticed, and he quickly forgets as Ravus reaches into the pocket of his coat, leaving a pink smear on the white fabric, and produces a blue handkerchief. Prompto stays still as Ravus wipes more blood from his face, his eyes slipping closed briefly. He can think of a dozen protests and questions but can't manage to curl his tongue around the words.

 

“I cannot release you. I have neither the key nor a means to reunite you with Prince Noctis and aid an escape.”

 

He raises his head and opens his eyes when Ravus speaks, something in his tone making him tense up involuntarily, and this close Prompto can see the telltale shine of moisture around the other's mismatched eyes.

 

“...S'fine.”

 

Prompto coughs around the word, his chest heaving against the bindings, and though the fit only lasts for a mere few seconds it leaves him feeling weak and tired, and he curls forward for a brief pause, and then there are hands on him, one warm and the other cooler on his bare skin, and Ravus is adjusting Prompto's position as much as he can to help him breath.

 

“You...you shouldn't be here.”

 

He swallows, licks his chapped lips, and watches Ravus step back, and Prompto wonders if he has been misheard. Ravus's mouth is drawn into a hard line that tilts down on one side, and his eyes narrowed around the tears still gathering there.

 

“Hey...it's okay.”

 

Prompto's voice wavers in the cold air of the cell, unsure, but he tries again, for Ravus as much as for himself.

 

“Not your fault. Noct'll...Noct'll come. We'll be fine but....don't stick around. I don't know when he's coming back. Don't...want him to get you too.”

 

He has to pause several times for breath and to try to muster enough saliva to keep from choking on the stale air, but he makes it through, and Ravus looks him in the eye at last, and there is a faint smile tugging at his lips now, which Prompto finds himself compelled to return, bolstered by the knowledge that he's not entirely alone in the depths of the enemy's stronghold. He's got one person close that cares if he makes it out alive, and for now, that is enough for both of them.

 

* * *

 

Ravus stays a while longer, quietly encouraging Prompto to speak and only offering his input now and then when Prompto's pauses begged it. He leaves with a smile after wiping fresh blood from the wound on Prompto's temple, and waits as the Prince makes his way through the Keep, and Ravus is on their heels when they leave, Prompto's fingers curled tightly around his own as he pulls Ravus along behind them.

 

In the train back to Lucis, Prompto lets Ravus against him just as much, and he holds his hand under the table until they both fall asleep.

 


	2. 2: When I break pattern, I break ground

2: When I break pattern, I break ground

The first time they meet properly, in a neutral situation and all the time in the world, is three weeks after Noctis ascends the throne. It's been a long three weeks for all of them. Ravus has never spent so much time in meetings, or stood in front of various desks and thrones as he tries to undo the damage from the war, and from his involvement in it. Lunafreya is still too weak to leave her bed, and Ravus wants this mess cleaned up before she does. He won't be the source of her unhappiness and worry ever again.

His meetings with King Noctis always seem to last the longest; Lucis has the most to rebuild of all of them, and Ravus is still working past his dislike of their young monarch. He can see now why Lunafreya had always placed so much faith in him, and part of it irks Ravus, though part of him is proud, relieved that his sister has such a dedicated and honest friend and ally in Noctis.

Their appointment in Ravus's office (formerly his mother's, Luna wanted nothing to do with it, and Ravus finds the place with its blue-tinted windows and rows of potted plants relaxing) overruns by an hour, and Ravus feels wrung out and tired even though it had been amicable, and the subject matter light. Noctis goes off in the direction of Luna's room, and Ravus stands in the doorway until he can no longer hear footsteps. He leaves his office door ajar for Pryna, the dog still asleep on the cushion beside his desk, and goes out into the palace grounds. Breathing in the cooling evening air, he sits on one of the nearby benches, cradles his prosthetic arm in his other hand, and closes his eyes.

“Does it hurt?”

Ravus startles, turns around so fast that he nearly upsets his position, and he settles just barely, when he recognises Prompto there. 

“Good evening.”

Prompto smiles sheepishly at him and slowly closes the gap between them, his steps muffled by the long grass. He's wearing the King'sGlaive uniform this time, and Ravus has to concentrate to avoid his thoughts wandering, not least of all because he's sure that it's not at all acceptable to be thinking these sorts of things about the sworn guard of another monarch. It must not show on his face at least, as Prompto sits beside him, close enough that Ravus can feel the warmth from his body.

“Luna said I might find you out here.”

Ravus stares off at the flowers, focussing on the way their petals are drooping and pressing closed as the light fades, a light breeze disturbing them no and then, and he doesn't look at Prompto until he speaks again.

“Or did you want to be alone? Geez, sorry, I'm not great with that kinda stuff, I-”

“Stay.”

Ravus grasps Prompto's wrist with his right hand before he can get up, takes it back when their eyes meet and resumes applying light pressure to the place where his flesh meets the metal casing.

“I apologise. I am not of terribly good company.”

They haven't spoken about what happened in Gralea, or on the train back home, and Ravus has wondered more than once if it even happened, or if his mind had simply supplied him with a happy dream.

“Well, why not?”

It's an innocent enough question, but when Ravus gives it thought it threatens to leave his carefully controlled emotions exposed to this man, and he's not ready, not strong enough...

“I cannot...It is..”

Ravus feels his guilt like a physical wound, and looks away when Prompto tilts his head to try and catch his eye.

“I apologise.”

“Noct said you're doing that a lot lately. You know you don't have to, right?”

Ravus has heard the same words from Luna more than several times in these past few months, and he finds it somehow harder to brush off when they are coming from his man before him, and when he risks a glance sideways, Prompto is watching him intently, his body leant towards Ravus and one hand just a hair's breadth from his thigh.

“Can I hug you?”

The question is absolutely the last thing Ravus had expected to hear from anyone, let alone this near enough stranger, and he finds himself unable to recall the last time someone had done this since his mother had been killed all those years ago.

His silence and stillness seems to inspire a moment of defiance in Prompto, as he grins at Ravus all the same and scoots closer on the bench so that their hips and legs are touching now, and Prompto's hand skirts delicately over Ravus's left shoulder before moving across his back and Ravus lets himself fall against Prompto's chest.

He's warm against Ravus's skin, and his arms are deceptively strong and firm around him, even as Prompto has to kneel up to compensate for his shorter height. The angle is awkward, and one of the buttons on the front of Prompto's uniform coat is digging into his cheek, but Ravus can't bring himself to complain as he shifts his position just enough to make it easier, his right hand resting on Prompto's shoulder as he keeps his left arm in his lap.

“Does it hurt? Your arm?”

Prompto repeats his question and Ravus shakes his head minutely so as not to disturb Prompto's position around him. He smells like grass and fabric soap, and just a little bit of cologne, and Ravus breathes in deeply and steadily to try and memorise it, his eyes closing in concentration.

“Not especially.”

It aches at the join, but this is nothing new and not worth mentioning, and when Prompto's hand rests over the seam once more Ravus flinches just barely, unused to such gentle touches against it, and he sighs into Prompto's neck as the warmth against his arm numbs the pain just enough for it to slip under his radar.  
They stay like that for a while in silence. The sky grows darker with the setting sun, the slivered new moon not big enough to cast any more light down on them than the yellowed glow from the windows, but they don't yet pull apart. The air is colder, but Ravus doesn't quite feel it between Prompto's arms and the hard line of his body pressing up against him, and if Prompto does then he says nothing.

The moment breaks when Ravus hears footsteps on the stone walkway, and they both look up. Ravus recognises the form of Noctis's shield, and he looks at Prompto as he expects him to pull away, but the blond man doesn't move.

“You'll catch a cold like that. We're having dinner soon, if you two want to join us. Iggy's cooking.”

That spurs Prompto into motion, though he doesn't so much pull away, as adjust his position around Ravus so that he can look at Gladiolus.

“We'll see.”

Ravus watches Gladiolus's shield shrug.

“Alright then. Don't do anything I wouldn't, there's condoms in the pack somewhere if you need 'em.”

Prompto squawks in indignation, and Ravus can't help but laugh against his shoulder as Gladiolus returns inside the palace.

“Geez, sorry about him. We try and try to train him to have some decency but...”

“It is fine. I am glad that your friends are so accepting.”

Ravus feels no shame about this, about himself or his preferences, but he had known he would need Prompto's friends blessings for....whatever this was. If it was even a thing.

“Did I overstep?”

He looks up at Prompto, ready to be dismissed and to apologise for wanting more than he deserves, but Prompto laughs and lightly smacks his right shoulder with the flat of his hand.

“You're an idiot.”

He says, and Ravus opens his mouth to ask what he means but then Prompto is kissing him and it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all.


	3. 3. I rebuild when I break down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for - anxiety, panic attacks, disassociation, general mental health stuff.

3\. I rebuild when I break down

 

The first time Ravus has a panic attack he is seven years old and gets lost in the forest surrounding Tenebrae's palace. He doesn't recall the finer details, only the way the trees seemed to spiral in on him as the ground shifts and unsettles his feet, and that by the time his mother finds him, he has half-burrowed into the hollow remains of a treetrunk, filthy and half-delirious with panic. He remembers the after, too, how he felt weary and not quite there for hours, and the deepset itch in his skin. Anxiety attacks follow and he learns how discomfort felt when it was everywhere at once, and how to anticipate and hide the worst of it. Adolescence turns into adulthood, and as Lunafreya becomes the youngest Oracle in history, and Ravus takes his seat within Niflheim's empire, he perfects the facade, knowing he can't risk to shed a single drop of blood, lest the hounds waiting for him to stumble devour him alive.

 

The war over and peace returned to Eos does not herald calm within his bones, however, though the pressure on the back of his skull recedes for all of a few weeks amidst the meetings and public addresses that bring in the new Era. Ravus is still not head of House Fleuret, but he serves in her place as Lunafreya recovers, safeguarding Tenebrae's position and allowing Lucian and Accordian heads of state to bare their grievances with him until the tables are bare and the true talks begin. Noctis has his back when he is present – something Ravus is knee-quakingly grateful for – and Luna offers her support when she can, further protecting Tenebrae's position within the new treaties, and the morning that Lucis will publish the new terms, Ravus wakes two hours before his alarm with the uncanny and insistent notion that something is terribly wrong.

 

It begins with a weighty pressure on his forehead that drags him off balance as he sits up in the half-light, and spreads down through his torso to the pads of his fingers and toes until his limbs wrack with tremours. Ravus scoots carefully to the edge of the bed, noticing that Prompto is gone; the coolness of the sheets on that side of the bed belying the age of the absence, and Ravus wonders, briefly, if this is better or worse. He reaches for the glass of water on the bedside table, spilling some of it onto his pyjama-clad thigh as he raises it to his lips. There is a note beside the water pitcher, he notices when he replaces the glass, and Ravus recognises Prompto's scrawling handwriting before he reads it;

 

Ravus -

 

Sorry to leave you. Noct's called an urgent meeting, us only. Nothing to worry about.

 

See you for lunch? :)

 

\- Prom xxx  
  
  


Ravus sets the paper back down and slides down the sheets again, closes his eyes and tries to relax back into sleep and still his thoughts and body both.

 

It doesn't work, and Ravus grows bored quickly. He rises, goes to the bathroom and turns the shower on, confident that the room – a guest suite within the Citadel itself – must be at least soundproof enough for him to have a shower without disturbing anyone else, even at this hour.

 

He showers, thoroughly, dresses in the white suit with the back accents Luna had insisted he wear, fastens the black and silver tie at his neck, then unfastens it when the pressure is too much against his skin. The sun finally crests the wall visible from his window, and Ravus checks the clock on the wall again, checks the dog-eared schedule that a servant had handed him on the first day of the summit. Prompto isn't officially attending any of these meetings, but no one is going to stand in the way of one of the King of Light's entourage, and Prompto has that ability to charm anyone into liking him and there is little doubt in Ravus's mind that he'll be in all of those meetings today.

 

Ravus paces the room again, counts the number of times his boot heels click against the marble floor on each circuit until he loses count and his thoughts echo louder than ever until he's almost sure he can hear them escape from his head to reverberate against the dark walls and rebound a little more distorted each time. He closes his eyes and sits down on the edge of the bed, his thoughts crossing briefly to Prompto, and Ravus knows that his little blond boyfriend would know just what to say and how to say it to calm the fluttering of his nerves, and the wound-sensitive way his skin feels, and Ravus allows himself this moment of weakness, the fingers of his prosthetic (still metal, no longer sharp-edged and made from a material lighter and more in tune with his body temperature than Magitek) curling tight in the sheets. The edge of a joint in his little finger snags as he moves his hand away, tearing a hole in the delicate fabric. It's a small thing; unlikely to be noticed by the cleaning staff, but Ravus feels the past few hours clump together like a solid mass and it undoes all the reasoning and positive thoughts that have tried to cleave through.

 

Ravus reaches for the schedule Prompto had left on his side of the bed.

 

Breaks are scheduled at regular intervals, of course, but the tea and coffee breaks are too short for this, and Ravus just can't justify taking Prompto away from his duties to the crown just because it's only his voice and his touch that will still the demons inside Ravus's head. He paces the length of the room once more, twice, and then unzips his boots and leans back until he freefalls onto the mattress. The ceiling is mapped by white veins running across the black marble, and Ravus concentrates hard on tracing each line until his vision goes funny and he feels like he's floating a foot off of the mattress, and the dizzy pressure on his joints makes continuing the game near enough impossible.

 

He leaves the suite then, lets the door click shut without checking whether or not it automatically locks, and follows the route down into the royal gardens. The guide had pointed it out to him during the tour so Ravus is sure it's not out of bounds, but he doesn't too much care right now, anyway. It's a distraction until the meeting ends, though Ravus finds himself pacing outside the council room door eventually anyway. The door is guarded by two King's Glaive soldiers, neither of whom pay Ravus much mind, either when he first arrives or when he fails to leave after the aide stood to one side tells him that the meeting isn't due to finish for another half an hour, and that it's more than likely not going to finish on time. It's fine, Ravus says, he's a patient man.

 

The meeting overruns by thirty-five minutes and forty-six seconds.

 

Ravus bites a ragged crescent into the nail on his thumb, and the wound leaves a pink smear on the white sleeve of his formal jacket that he knows Prompto will notice first. It stings as he presses a handkerchief against it to try and still the bleeding, but the pain grounds him more into the now and out of the misty other he has been entertaining most of the day.

 

He's thinking maybe he's persisted through it when one of the double doors into the meeting chamber sighs open and the illusions shatters as Ravus turns bodily towards it, feels his neck twinge in protest, but accepts the later pain with nary a concerned thought. Ravus watches the women and men of the new royal council walk out, scans each until a familiar tuft of blond hair comes into view, and Ravus pauses mid-step as he sees Prompto in animated conversation with the young king. Something settles in the pit of his stomach, threatens to drag him to his knees, and Ravus feels physically sick because now he looks clingy, and maybe like a stalker...Is that what they'll think of him now? Prompto is a valued and talented member of the council, and the general public have his ear and he has their trust, and Ravus has barely that as he tries to help Lunafreya restore Tenebrae and reassure his citizens and -

 

Ravus isn't aware he's hyperventilating until Prompto's hand is on his right arm, and when he opens his eyes (when had he closed them?) Prompto's mouth is moving, and Ravus can't make out his words over the white noise in his ears, but he can tell he's worried by the crease between his eyebrows.

 

“..... a sec,”

 

Prompto's hands are on his arm again, firmer now, and Ravus allows himself to be lead and sat down somewhere. He's on the floor, against a wall, he can tell this much from the solid mass at his back and beneath his legs. Prompto is there again, leaning up against his side and Ravus feels himself part the surface enough to feel it in real time when Prompto wraps his arms around him.

 

“Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?”

 

Prompto's tone is sad, hurt, but it sounds like an accusation and Ravus wants to curl in on himself and just hibernate until this is erased from living memory.

 

“I apolo-”

 

“Damnit, Ravus, don't apologise!”

 

He doesn't want to, but the flinch is automatic and Ravus reaches for Prompto on the rebound to stop him pulling away.

 

“Don't..”

 

“...Shit, I'm sorry,”

 

Prompto huffs in annoyance, though Ravus can tell even now that it's directed inwards,]

 

“It's just...you could have come got me, you know?”

 

“It was not-”

 

“Don't tell me it's not important. Please, don't tell me that.”

 

“Then I won't.”

 

They sit in silence for several moments before Ravus broaches speech again.

 

“It was not urgent. I can deal with this much on my own.”

 

Beside him Prompt sighs and presses his face into the hollow between Ravus's collar and his throat.

 

“...You freaked me out there.”

 

“I'm sorry. I did not intend to.”

 

“Geez, I know that. No one asks to have a panic attack.”

“It has been a while since the last...there are fewer distractions here, and more....”

 

Ravus twists his mouth as he considers his words, wishing to be honest without over speaking;

 

“There is more fuel here.”

 

Beside him Prompto swears and presses the heel of one hand against his forehead,

 

“Shit, you're right. I didn't even think, the Citadel, c'mon, let's go get a hotel room instead. I'd take you to my place but er...that neighbourhood was kind of flattened during the invasion. Not that that's a problem, really, I mean, it was a shithole and about to fall to pieces anyway so maybe the Niffs kind of did it a favour, but yeah, I wouldn't have taken you there even if it was still standing. That crappy apartment is no place for a prince, or my boyfriend.”

 

Prompto is still talking as he takes his phone out and books them a room at a nearby hotel instead. Ravus closes his eyes again and concentrates on the inflections in his voice and lets the words all meld together as he drifts down. When he reopens his eyes, Prompto is watching him with a mixture of concern and relief, and when Ravus smiles at him, Prompto nearly tackles him to the ground in a hug that threatens to squeeze the air right out of him.

 

“Don't do that again.”

 

It's spoken so softly that Ravus almost doesn't hear it, and he lifts his arms to return the hug then, and lets Prompto drag him to his feet a moment later.

 

“I will try.”

 

“I mean it. Don't. I don't.....look, those meetings are important, sure, but so much of it is just...”

 

Prompto lowers his voice.

 

“There's a lot of back-and-forthing. It's not...restoring the whole of Lucis, and working out how to best deal with the remnants of the Empire – no you don't get to feel guilty about that, stop it – is kind of a mess, so...anyway, you're never interrupting, Ravus, and... Noct said if you do that again he'll order you to come sit in these meetings with us.”

 

His reluctance must show on his face because Prompto laughs.

 

“Yeah, I thought you'd feel that way.”

 

Ravus feels an answering chuckle slip out of his mouth and he allows it, looking around for the first time and realising then that they were still stood in the foyer, the doors to the council room closed once more, and all the guests and guards gone.

 

“What-”

 

“Oh, yeah, Noct told everyone to get lost. Well, more politely and kingly like, anyway.”

 

It's not something Ravus had expected from Noctis, not as king or as the friend of his sister.

 

“Why?”

 

“Oh, geez, c'mon,”

 

Prompto lightly smacks his arm and laughs softly.

 

“Noctis doesn't hate you. I don't think he hates anyone. Well, Ardyn might be an exception but that guy was a creep and you're definitely not a creep.”

 

That makes Ravus laugh, albeit quietly, and he lets Prompto take him back to their suite.

 

“Thank you.”

 

He says after a pause, and he smiles when Prompto reappears from the other side of his bed with a pair of socks in one hand.

 

“Anytime. I'm your boyfriend, yeah? It's what I do. And, even if I wasn't – no I'm not thinking about that – even if I wasn't I'd still do.”

 

Prompto crosses the room and leans up to loop his arms around Ravus's neck, and Ravus meets him halfway with a the kiss, feeling fingers slid into his neatly combed hair and tease it back into disarray, and Ravus lets him, picks Prompto up and carries him back to the bed, drops him the last foot onto it and takes advantage of his surprise to join him, meeting his mouth in another kiss. The dark and heavy feelings from before are forgotten as Prompto kisses him back and traces prickles of light along his skin wherever he touches. Ravus's consciousness retracts until it begins and ends with Prompto's hands on him, and outside the open curtains night falls without witness.

 

 


End file.
